cooperage

American

[koo-per-ij, koop-er-] / ˈku pər ɪdʒ, ˈkʊp ər- /

noun

the work or business of a cooper.
the place where such work is carried on.
articles made by a cooper, as barrels or casks.
the price paid or charged for coopers' work.

cooperage British

/ ˈkuːpərɪdʒ /

noun

Also called: coopery. the craft, place of work, or products of a cooper
the labour fee charged by a cooper

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of cooperage

1425–75; late Middle English. See cooper, -age

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

cooperage

In Louisville, Brown-Forman closed the cooperage that made barrels to house its spirits, which also include Old Forester bourbon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026

This means his pickle company is also part cooperage.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 3, 2020

The silo was about eight feet across and thirty feet high, with boards of unvarnished yellow pine as tightly fitted as cooperage.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 4, 2019

Small tour groups will be taken round six "pillars" of whisky-making, including cask cooperage and maturation.

From BBC ● May 21, 2018

There wasn’t room in the small apartment to wash, so I scrubbed the quilt and blankets in the courtyard behind the cooperage.

From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023